Razor Surgeonfish

Sightings

2026 season, every one sourced

Photos

From California this season

No photos yet. If you photographed this animal in California this season, post it to the Coastal Bulletin.

Home Range

Where it normally lives

Magdalena Bay, Baja California Sur, and the southern Gulf of California south to Colombia, including the Revillagigedo, Cocos and Galapagos islands.

Range source: Mexican Fish.com · FishBase

Scientists recently merged the yellowtail surgeonfish of Mexico into this species, so its range is now described as running from Magdalena Bay in Baja California Sur and the southern Gulf of California down to Colombia and the offshore islands, including the Galapagos. It lives on shallow rocky reef from about 10 to 100 feet deep.

Identification

The razor surgeonfish has an oval, flattened body and a steep forehead. Adults are light gray with a bright yellow tail, a dark bar through the eye and another through the shoulder. The surest mark is a row of 3 bony knobs on each side of the tail base. Young fish are often bright yellow, though some already look like adults. The species can reach about 24 inches, but most are closer to 10.

Natural History

Razor surgeonfish travel in schools, sometimes large ones, and graze algae off the rocks during the day.

In California

A diver photographed a yellow surgeonfish on the wall of the La Jolla Submarine Canyon on October 27, 2026. The next evening, an observer on the Orange County coast found 5 to 10 juveniles, each about 1 inch long, in the upper intertidal zone. Other iNaturalist users identified both records as this species.

Taxonomy

Rarity

Rarity in the compendium is how often the animal has been reported on the California coast this season, not how rare it is where it normally lives. It moves as new sightings come in.